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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 15, 2002

Model of Coexistence of Two Great Neighbors: Russian FM

The following is an exclusive interview with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, conducted by People's Daily correspondents Lu Yansong and Ma Jian stationed in Russia.


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At the advent of the anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Russian Good Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Moscow accepted the joint interview by People's Daily of China and the Information Agency of Russia. Mr. Foreign Minister expressed his views on questions concerning the historic significance of the said Treaty and the prospect of Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership. The contents of the interview follow:

QUESTION: Mr. Foreign Minister, how do you comment on the historic significance of the Sino-Russian Good Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation? In your opinion, what achievements our two countries have gained in the fields of developing friendship and cooperation over the past year?

ANSWER: The friendship between our two great peoples goes back to ancient times. We are friendly neighbors with good cooperation. The Treaty has charted the orientation for the positive process of promoting the development of relationship between the two countries, it has laid a solid legal foundation for pushing forward the long-term good neighborliness, friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two great neighbors. As I see it, the Treaty has absorbed the valuable experiences accumulated in the development of Russian-China relations over the past decades. A year ago, we summarized and intensified the principle for establishing mutual relationship, pointed out the basic form and the orientation of advance for mutual cooperation in various fields.

In the Treaty, we involve in it the protracted nature of the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries; we firmly believe in the continuity of the friendship and good neighborliness between the Russian and Chinese people, this continuity will pass down from generation to generation. One-third provisions of the Treaty involve political and military guarantee, this also testifies to the above-mentioned viewpoint. What is especially important is that the Treaty confirms that there does not exist territorial claim between the two sides, they jointly observe the principle of the inviolability of territory and the unbreakability of boundary lines, this is the first time in the history of Russian-China relations.

From the historical perspective of the relations between the two countries, the political dialogs conducted between us on the world and bilateral issues have never been so close and so profound as they are today. President Vladimir Putin and President Jiang Zemin have conducted six meetings during the 2000-02 period. The two countries have conducted ever-closer coordination of their diplomatic actions on all crucial issues. The bilateral trade volume has taken a striking tendency of rapid growth this year, contacts in the fields of education, tourism, public health and journalism have also become increasingly active. This indicates that the social foundation for the partnership between the two countries has become broader and more solid.

Q: What kind of a status does China have in Russia's foreign policy? What is the substance of Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership? What impact will the partnership between us exert on the international situation?

A: In Russia's multi-directional foreign policy, Russia's relationship with China has a unique weight and is free from the influence of changes in any situations, relationship with China is the aspect of our absolute priority.

As the model of coexistence between our two great neighbors, Russia-China strategic cooperative partnership gives people food for thought. This includes highly mutual trust, cooperation and the transparency of mutual relationship. This implies the extensive cooperation between both sides in international affairs, but this is not directed against a third country. The practice of bilateral ties over the past decades has benefited us a great deal. After making a summation of historical experiences, we have come to the following conclusion: The present model, to the greatest extent, conforms to the interests of Russian and Chinese people and to the interests of world peace, security, stability and development.

The level of dialogs with China belongs, of course, to the most important achievement in Russia's foreign political activities over the past few years. The contents involved in the dialogs are by no means confined to bilateral ties. In recent years, our mutual cooperation on the international stage has become closer and deeper. We have time and again witnessed with satisfaction that Russia and China share the same views on matters around the world and on how to solve global and regional issues. This shows that our fundamental bilateral State interests are identical.

The coordinate action taken by Russia and China in the aspect of strengthening international security is of inestimable significance. The whole world is listening to the duet we sing on the international stage. As I see it, the common work done by our two countries on the international stage helps to form a multi-polar world order, to consolidate the status of the international law, to enhance the role of the United Nations and the Security Council and to mediate regional conflicts.

Q: In their meetings, Chinese and Russian leaders have repeatedly mentioned the importance of raising the levels of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. How do you comment on the current Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation? In your opinion, in which areas and through what measures should the quality of this cooperation be improved?

A: We have satisfactorily noticed the fact that the momentum of Russia-China economic and trade relations is good. Substantial growth has appeared in bilateral border trade, which exceeded US$10 billion last year. The various indexes of this year have enabled us to take an optimistic attitude toward the future. Both sides have signed an important contract on China's purchase of Russia's civil airplanes; progress has been made in the implementation of petroleum and natural gas pipelines and other major cooperative projects; construction of the Tianwan nuclear power station with Russia's participation is drawing to an end. In the first few months of this year, Russian President Putin and Chinese President Jiang have exchanged views about this, in the two work meetings of the co-chairmen of the committee between the Russian and Chinese governments have also considered these matters. At present, the two countries are making preparations for the seventh regular meeting between the heads of governments of the two countries, by then ways for continued development will be determined.

We maintain that economic and trade contacts should lay a solid material foundation for Russian-China friendly relations. It is evident that bilateral cooperation in this field should be identical with the two countries' possession of potentials as well as with the high-level understanding and cooperation in the political aspect. As in the political aspect, we must also become good strategic partners in the economic aspect. To further develop Russian-China economic and trade cooperation, we should, on the one hand, stabilize trade in chemical fertilizers, metal and non-metal, agricultural produce, article of daily use and other traditional commodities, on the other hand, we should energetically increase the shares of machine-building and high-tech products in trade and expand cooperation in the field of investment.

This implies that lots of work remains to be done in the future. We must solidify the legal foundation in Russia-China economic and trade relations and strengthen the infrastructure facilities in the aspects of finance and transportation. Not long ago, China joined the world Trade Organization (WTO), Russia is also making preparation for accession to this organization. In view of this, our two countries have recently been working hard to coordinate mutual economic and trade ties.

Q: How will Russia strive to further strengthen its strategic cooperative partnership with China and deepen the mutual understanding between the two peoples? Mr. Foreign Minister, how do you look upon the prospect for the development of friendly relationship between China and Russia?

A: The above-said Treaty represents a blueprint of a future building, or we may more optimistically call it a framework. To fill the relationship framework established by the Treaty with actual contents, lots of practical work awaits us to do.

In the coming months, the two countries will conduct a series of political contacts with rich contents, which include contacts between top-level leaders. As to economic cooperation between the two countries, it is necessary to expand the scale of cooperation, improve the quality of cooperation and properly implement large cooperative projects for which agreement has been reached. In order to make the world more secure and fair, Russia and China will more closely consult with each other on cooperation in the aspect of foreign policies. In coming days, the conference of Russia-China Committee on education, culture, public health and physical culture will be held in Moscow. I think work in these aspects is very important. In order to deepen mutual understanding and conduct more frequent contacts between the two sides, there is a great deal of work to be done whether in tourism and sports or in the field of literature. Education determines the future, we should all the more spare no efforts in this respect. Here lies the most solid base of the tree of friendship between our two countries, the evergreen tree of friendship.

In short, the prospect of Russia-China strategic cooperative partnership is bright. This kind of relationship possesses all necessary conditions for the development of this relationship from generation to generation: The political aspirations of leaders, the tremendous potential for mutually beneficial economic cooperation and the traditional friendship between the people of the two countries. When we signed the Treaty with Chinese partners, we fixed the period of validity at 20 years. Our point of departure in doing so is that the principles contained in the Treaty require that the Treaty serve not only our present generation, but also the coming generations. We have no reason whatsoever to doubt about this.

By People's Daily Online


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